Reduction in State Anxiety Scores of Freshmen through a Course in Career Decision

A total of 112 Taiwanese junior college freshmen, assigned to an experimental group (N=59) and a control group (N=62), responded to the State-Trait Anxiety Inventory. After they had participated in a career education course the experimental group scores on state anxiety decreased. An analysis of variance of the state anxiety scores yielded two main significant effects (group and trait anxiety) and a two-way interaction was found with trait anxiety and group. There was clear support for the importance of the career education course. The results and implications for continuing research are discussed.     

对学分制和主辅修制的探索与实践

在分析现行学制存在缺陷的基础上 ,提出了“复合型”人才培养模式和学分制、主辅修制学制改革方案 ,并对物理系开展学制改革情况作了介绍。     

Improving Professional Practice through Practice-Based Research: V<Emphasis Type="Italic">a</Emphasis>KE (Values <Emphasis Type="Italic">and</Emphasis> Knowledge Education) in University-Based Teacher Education

Evidence suggests that in the professional education of teachers the moral goals are currently a neglected topic in favor of the subject matter and knowledge. The constructivist instructional approach VaKE (Values and Knowledge Education) addresses this problem by combining the moral and epistemic goals through the discussion of moral dilemmas. The main research question of this practice-based study was whether teacher educators can improve their instructional practice by using VaKE. We describe an empirical study of a teacher educator who used VaKE in order to (i) facilitate pre-service teachers to solve moral conflicts which they are faced with in their workplace learning and to (ii) increase the moral climate in his course. 58 pre-service teachers who formed two classes participated in the study. The study consisted of three research phases: In the first research phase the types of the pre-service teachers’ moral conflicts were examined. In the second research phase the most frequent types of moral conflicts were used as a basis for an explorative quasi-experimental pre-posttest study. This study investigated the effects of VaKE compared to a traditional case-analysis approach with regard to the pre-service teachers’ application of discourse-oriented actions for conflict resolution. In the third phase, a case study method was used comprising a random sample of seven pre-service teachers chosen from each class to investigate the perceived learning climate during the intervention. The results indicate that VaKE provides the possibility to combine the moral and epistemic goals of the professional education of teachers.     

Density functional theory study of the adsorption of elemental mercury on a 1T-MoS<Subscript>2</Subscript> monolayer

Elemental mercury has become a global concern because of its significant impact on human health and the ecosystem. A lot of effort has been put towards the removal of elemental mercury from the 2H-MoS₂ (prismatic structure of MoS₂). However, the mechanism of 1T-MoS₂ (polytype structure of MoS₂) in Hg⁰ capture remains unexplored. In this study, density functional theory (DFT) was adopted to investigate the adsorption mechanism of Hg on a 1T-MoS₂ monolayer. The different possible adsorption positions on the 1T-MoS₂ were examined. For different adsorption configurations, the changes in electronic property were also studied to understand the adsorption process. The results elucidated that chemisorption dominates the adsorption between Hg⁰ atoms and the 1T-MoS₂. It was found that the T_Mo (on top of the Mo atom) position is the strongest adsorption configuration among all the possible adsorption positions. The adsorption of Hg⁰ atoms on the 1T-MoS₂ monolayer is influenced by adjacent S and Mo atoms. The adsorbate Hg0 atom is found being oxidized on the T_Mo position of the 1T-MoS₂ with an adsorption energy of ?1.091 eV. From the partial density of states (PDOS) analysis of the atoms, the strong interaction between Hg⁰ and the 1T-MoS₂ surface is caused by the significant overlap among the d orbitals of the mercury atom and the s orbital of the S atom and p and d orbitals of the Mo atom.     

Spatial task solving on tablets: analysing mental and physical rotation processes of 12–13-year olds

Educational technology research and development - Spatial skill assessment and training are promising fields of application for tablets, as touch-based interaction can prime and support mental...     

Fostering Cognitive Development Through the Context of Mathematics: Results of the CAME Project

The CAME¹ project was inaugurated in 1993 as an intervention delivered in the context of mathematics with the intention of accelerating the cognitive development of students in the first two years of secondary education. This paper reports substantial post-test and long-term National examination effects of the intervention, yet, by discussing the methodology used, questions the assumptions implicit in the original intention. It is now suggested that a better view is to regard CAME as a constructive criticism of normal instructional teaching, with implications for the role of mathematics teachers and university staff in future professional development.     

The Emotionally Intelligent Early Childhood Educator: Self-Reflective Journaling

A current interest in education is the growing awareness that the development of social and emotional skills in children is critical for the foundation of academic knowledge in the classroom. The early childhood educator is in a position to be a powerful nurturer of the social emotional development in young children. It is important, therefore, to challenge early childhood teachers, particularly veteran teachers, to take a closer look at their own social and emotional skills and to systematically reassess these skills through an emotionally intelligent “lens”. The field of emotional intelligence is a new and exciting area of academic research that looks at emotional abilities within the following four domains: (1) perception skills; (2) accessing skills; (3) understanding skills; and (4) regulation skills. This article presents a userfriendly methodology to assess and enhance the emotional intelligence abilities of teachers, and thereby impact the abilities of the young children they teach.